1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved hot air expandable pasta snack products, as well as a method of fabricating such products. More particularly, it is concerned with non-fried snacks which comprise a pasta flour and are low in fat while at the same time achieving the fluffy, light texture typical of fried, high-fat pasta snacks. These snacks are fabricated by extrusion processes carried using slow screw rotation speeds, followed by two drying steps. Before each stage of drying, the product is preferably agitated by air having a temperature lower than the temperatures of the drying apparatuses. The final product can be coated with various flavorings and hot air expanded in a manner similar to popcorn to yield a desirable snack product.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years, the snack industry has been dominated by fried foods. Recently however, non-fried snacks have become increasingly popular in light of the health concerns raised by the fat and cholesterol levels in fried foods. The chief obstacle in manufacturing non-fried snacks is that these non-fried snacks are generally not comparable to fried snacks in terms of flavor, texture, and appearance.
Many types of snacks are manufactured utilizing extruder technology. For example, corn-based snacks can be produced by expanding a corn-based extruded product. This is how corn curl and corn puff snacks are manufactured. Pasta snacks are generally made via a two-stage process wherein a starting flour/water mixture including pasta flour (e.g., Durum or Semolina) is first extruded, followed by drying of the extrudate and frying. However, this latter method results in a pasta snack product that is high in fat--generally about 10% by weight of fat, based on the total weight of the product--and thus not very healthy for consumers. However, in the past frying has been necessary in order to achieve a light, fluffy pasta snack with an appealing texture.